Ex-Finnish premier to head Jenin mission

Date: 25/04/02

MARTTI Ahtisaari, former president of Finland, has been appointed to head a high-level fact-finding team investigating claims that Israeli defence forces committed human rights abuses at Jenin.

The team also includes Sadako Ogata, a former UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and Cornelio Sommaruga, ex-president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The team's visit to the scene was initially postponed because Israel insisted its make-up needed to include military and counter-terrorist experts.

However, Ahtisaari said: 'Our intention is to meet as soon as possible and, hopefully, to be on the spot during the latter part of this week. We will then take things from there.'

The Finn has an excellent track record in mediating in conflicts around the world. He steered Namibia on the path to independence in the late 1970s and helped broker peace in Bosnia in 1993 and Kosovo in 1999.

Since stepping down as Finnish president in 2000, he has become a roving trouble-shooter, inspecting IRA arms dumps in Northern Ireland and assessing Austria's human rights records for the EU.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan made the appointment, saying: 'I am not sending a team of prosecutors or criminal investigators - they are going to establish the facts.'

Martti Ahtisaari, former president of Finland, has been appointed to head a high-level fact-finding team investigating claims that Israeli defence forces committed human rights abuses at Jenin.